Tuesday, August 20, 2013

A Doctor’s Advice To His New Patients

As a doctor, I see many hundreds of patients every week. I am very happy being a doctor, and nothing is more satisfying to me as a professional than to help a childless couple finally have the baby they have always wanted. However, when it comes to being my patient, there are some things that a patient has to understand about the kind of doctor I am.

I am a doctor, and as a medical professional and I am expected to do things like examine patients, interpret test results, and recommend treatments. However, I am a doctor who believes in patients doing as much as they can to help me to treat them. The reason why I say that a patient needs to help me is because I want the patient to understand exactly what is wrong with them, so together we can work on resolving the problem. With this in mind, I want my new patients to understand that they need to do more than just sit on my table looking at me with a blank stare. I am going to ask my patients do to things like interpret their own results, and explain their condition to me in their own words.

Many patients are taken aback when I ask them in participate in their treatment , because they are not accustomed to a doctor asking them for their opinion ! This is a concept which is still very foreign to India, where the traditional doctor still adopts a very paternalistic role. However , I want my patients to understand that I cannot help them without their full and complete understanding of what is wrong with them. My patients have an infertility problem, and have come to see me to resolve it with IVF treatment , but what patients need to know is that they will be helping me to help them by actively participating in their treatment. This ensures we are on the same page - and that the chemistry between us is working !

This approach to medicine has gotten me a lot of bad reviews and even complaints, but I am a doctor that believes in working together with his patients.